Defending Cak Imin Branded Nusron Wahid Kemaruk, AMIN National Team: Our Criticism Is Not For Personal

Vice President Muhaimin Iskandar/screenshot

JAKARTA - Spokesperson for the National Team for the Winning of Anies-Muhaimin (AmIN National Team) Iwan Tarigan defended the vice presidential candidate Muhaimin Iskandar which was branded chaotic by the Secretary of TKN Prabowo-Gibran, Nusron Wahid. Nusron said that Cak Imin was determined to become Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia because he wanted to compete with the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and prove the reckless downstream nickel issue. Iwan emphasized that Cak Imin's criticism of downstreaming was not personal. "Of course, our criticism is not personal, but a policy so that the use of natural resources is used as much as possible for the prosperity of the Indonesian people, not for the prosperity of the Oligarchy around the authorities," Iwan said in his statement, Tuesday, January 30. According to Iwan, criticism of the government camp needs to be expressed so that the space for expressing opinions mandated in the constitution can actually be realized. "On the other hand, if the criticism or input given is deemed inappropriate or different from the government's perspective, then as an answer, the program must really be completed," he explained. Iwan also considered that Nusron was too tendentious and did not understand the problem of nickel downstreaming. In fact, he continued, Cak Imin's criticism was expressed with the intention of increasing downstream arrangements so that nickel prices were maintained after the discovery of new competitors for batteries. Iwan views that the demand for nickel in the world market is decreasing. Meanwhile, the construction of new smelters continues to grow, so that the world market is flooded with Indonesian nickel. This makes nickel prices continue to decline. "So, the construction of downstream smelters needs to be stopped so that nickel prices are maintained and Indonesia's natural resources will not be wasted and pollution due to smelters will not be more dangerous for the current generation and future generations," explained Iwan. For information, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan opened his voice about Cak Imin's accusation that the reckless downstream program carried out by the government did not bring prosperity to the community. Cak Imin made the accusation in the fourth debate of the Vice Presidential Candidate which took place on Sunday, January 21. Through a post on his Instagram page, Luhut said he wanted to invite Cak Imin to visit Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), which is an integrated industrial area for heavy metal processing and is located in Lelilef Village, Weda District, Central Halmahera Regency, North Maluku Province. Apart from Weda Bay, Luhut also invited Muhaimin to visit the nickel processing-based industrial area in Morowali.

"I actually want to invite Muhaimin to visit Weda Bay and Morowali to see for myself. Looking is believing, rather than lying to the public. What I think is a character that is not good at achieving something in your position to deceive the public with this information," said Luhut from his Instagram page, Wednesday, January 24. Luhut claimed, based on his data, the poverty rate in Central Sulawesi in 2015 was 14.7 percent and in the 2023 ton it fell to 12.4 percent. "What is that? Yes, because of economic growth there. So there is quite an improvement there," he said.